


Of Being Caught and Breaking Rules

by RisingReptiles



Category: Original Work, The Borrowers - All Media Types
Genre: Borrowers AU, G/T, Giant/Tiny, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 3,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23147827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisingReptiles/pseuds/RisingReptiles
Summary: Arris is a borrower, just going about their simple day to day routine, when they loose track of time and get caught by a human.From there, their life, as well as their friends, are no longer quite so simple.From hiddendreamer’s febuary prompt list, yes I know it’s late.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	1. 1- Ideal

**Author's Note:**

> This is from hiddendreamer’s prompt list. I didn’t intend on posting, which was doubled by me not finishing, but I might finish eventually and was actually pretty proud of how this turned out as a story.

1- Ideal

Your name is Arris, and you live on the second story of an apartment complex. You have two friends, Micah and William, who live on the third story and outdoors respectively. You are all borrowers. Currently, you were making your way through the walls to the apartment of a bean named Bonnie. She would currently be at the job you’ve heard her talking about before, but you still double check through little pinprick windows you’ve dug along the way. You glance out into the kitchen and see it empty, as it usually is at this time. You slip out through the door on the inside of the cupboard, and walk down the length of it looking for any misplaced, easy scraps. Seeing none, you throw your hook up to an open cereal box and climb up, before using your hook to fish out the ‘cheerios’. It’s not a very quick process, but you’d prefer it to getting stuck inside the box. Again. After you’ve gotten a couple pieces, you climb back down and look back through the packages to see if any others are easily accessible right now. None seem to be so you glance out the cupboard, and look around the counter, seeing a bowl. You look closer, pushing your glasses back up your nose, and see that it’s half full with trail mix! You attach your hook and climb down, before hurrying over to the bowl and peering in. You pick out the pieces of nuts and dried fruit, before adding two of the chocolate pieces. Oh, this was a _very_ nice, and _very_ lucky find. You couldn’t wait to show Micah. You grab one more piece of fruit, before turning to head back, when you hear the front door opening. Shit! You must have lost track of time, you sprinted over to your hook and debated for half a second, before unhooking it from the cupboard and then scurrying behind a set of cups that held various tools. And just in time, because right then the bean walked in the kitchen. This really wasn’t an ideal situation. How on earth were you going to get out of this!?


	2. 2- Daring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unwanted holding/contact in this chapter

2- Daring

You were still hiding behind the cups, holding still barely daring to breathe, while listening to the bean walk around the kitchen. Your breath hitches when you hear her walk closer and start digging around in the cup. You can feel yourself shaking, but don’t dare move. Your breath whooshes out of you when you hear the bean leave the room and start doing something in the neighboring room. You pause for a second, and peek around the cup to double check that she’s gone, before hurrying over to the cabinet and throwing your hook up. You need to get back to the safety of the walls. You’re halfway up when you hear the bean coming back to the kitchen. You pause, before frantically climbing faster. 

“Seems I forgot the…” you hear her trail off, and glance back as you climb, seeing her staring right at you. You’re almost to the top, come on, come on, come on- when you feel a hand wrap around you. You immediately start wiggling in her grasp, pushing on her fingers in an attempt to get free.

“Woah, hey, calm down, little, uh, whatever you are. What even  _ are _ you?” she whispers the last part, turning you around in her grasp as she brings her other hand up to prod at you. 

“Hello? Can you speak?” You’re no longer struggling in her grasp, instead just breathing heavily and looking up at the bean. Who captured you. Fuck, you’re going to die, aren’t you? This is it, this is the end for Arris. Even if you managed to get away, you’d have to move. And you weren’t really planning on ever doing that again. You had your friends here, borrowers who actually cared about you. And you were going to have to give that all away now.  _ If _ you managed to live, that is. The bean has continued to look around at you, and you just shivered, lax in their hand. You don’t care anymore. 


	3. 3- Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unwanted holding/contact, thinking of someone as a pet, and biting in this chapter

3- Bite

You had just been getting ready to enjoy an evening to yourself, when you had walked in on what seemed to be a tiny person, climbing up a string to your cupboards. Now you had them in your grasp, and were gently trying to get a response of some sort from them. They  _ looked  _ fairly human, but couldn’t seem to speak or truly understand you. They were just laying in your hand. It was kind of cute, actually. Maybe you could keep them, they could be your little friend, almost! Except… you didn’t know how to take care of them. And you didn’t exactly have the resources  _ to _ take care of them. But you really wanted to keep them. You suppose you could keep them for a short while, and release them if they were too difficult to care for, or give them to a pet store. They’d probably know how to take care of… whatever this creature was. You start looking around your apartment for a box of some sort that you could temporarily keep them in. You find one eventually and lay a blanket in the bottom before laying the tiny person down in it. They lay there a moment before turning on their side and curling into a ball. You Frown, and reach into the box, to poke the side of their head. They reach up and grab on to your finger with their little hands, but before you can aww over how adorable that is, they’re biting down. Hard. you yelp and reflexively jerk back, pulling them up before they drop back down into the box. You hold your finger to your chest and look over at them, to see them sitting there, looking almost  _ smugly _ at you. You huff, before folding up the tops of the box and placing a book on top.

“Bad! Bad little- little person! No biting!” you say at the box, before going to the bathroom to clean off your finger.


	4. 4- Paranoid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A POV change?? In the middle of a chapter?? Crazy.

4- Paranoid

You sat in the now darkness, before hearing the bean shuffle off to another room. You stand up, and make your way over to one of the walls, and start feeling it. You could probably dig out of this. But it might take a while. You dig into your bag past all of the food you’re carrying, and pull out the knife you’d fashioned out of a spare razor blade. You go to a part of the wall where it can be most covered by the blanket, and start stabbing through the cardboard. You pause every few minutes to listen and see if the bean was returning yet. After a while, you finally manage to pop out a section of the box. You listen for the bean, before determining that she’s messing around in the bathroom again, and quickly exit the box. 

You were searching around your apartment for gloves after cleaning the bite, so you could safely handle the little person. At one point when you’d walked past your room you thought maybe you’d heard a soft scratching noise, but when you looked in you didn’t hear anything. You’d assumed you were just being paranoid, or that one of your neighbors was doing something. And just now while you were in the bathroom you swear you heard some sort of tearing noise. But it was probably nothing. Right? You were just being paranoid, it came from upstairs or something and it just  _ sounded _ like it came from your room. You decide after a moment that it couldn’t hurt to maybe go check on the little person. 


	5. 5- Leap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An escape is attempted.

5- Leap

You made your way across the bedside table when the bean walked into the room. You mouthed the word fuck while running to the edge of the table. You calculated in your head. You could make the jump to the bed, you bet. Then you could slide down and at least get lost under there until the bean gave up and then you could go to the nearest opening in the walls. You leaped off the edge and we’re midair for a second that felt like forever, before hitting the side of the bed. Okay, you were slipping down earlier in your plan than expected, but you were so close to the floor, you could make it. You could make it, you were going to make it- you just barely avoided being grabbed off the sheet, before running under the bed and into the clutter. You immediately started climbing in and around the various objects while a hand slammed around searching for you behind you. You finally reached the other wall, and stopped to breath for a short bit, before moving over to the far corner. You grabbed the corner of a blanket that had fallen down here and curled up on it, ready to wait out the rest of the day. 


	6. 6- Early

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The escape is completed

6- Early

You open your eyes and rapidly blink the sleep out of them. Where are you? Are you under a bed? Why are you- oh that’s right. You recall the previous evenings events, before jumping up, and running along the wall to the edge of the bed. You see the bean, collapsed on the floor, presumably having fallen asleep as you had while both trying to wait the other out. You bite your lip, glancing up at the window above you. It looked like it was fairly early morning, the bean  _ shouldn’t  _ be up for a while...but you would have to walk right past the bean to get to the closest exit. You supposed you could wait for the human to move, as you technically had enough food for at least a few days, possibly a week if you really drew it out. But the human might find you by then. You spend a moment continuing to debate in your head, pulled out of it by a gasp in front of you. You look over to see the bean staring at you, and your breath hitches before you sprint back under the bed. You can hear a hand following after you, so you take a sharp turn to the left. You burrow into the trash surrounding you, and watch as the hand goes past you, before retreating. You hear the bean sigh and get up, and walk away after a moment. You let out the breath you didn’t know you were holding, before peeking out of your crevice. Seeing no human, you creep forwards and look out into the room. Seeing an empty room, you dash out and back into the walls. 


	7. 7- Yellow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a mouse in this chapter

7- Yellow

Safe back in the walls, you were debating over leaving or not. You could just convince Micah to never go to that apartment, and avoid it yourself. Or you could join William in the outdoors. There are many options other than moving  _ again _ . Right? You could stay here, it’d be just  _ fine _ . No big deal, no big change. You’re so lost in thought, pacing through the walls that you almost don’t hear it until it’s too late. You glance up to see a mouse come around the corner. It turns towards you, and you stumble back as it opens its mouth, revealing sharp yellowed teeth. You start running unsure of where you’re going, just going as fast as you can in the hopes of losing the mouse. You don’t realize where you’ve run to until you go around a bend, and right through one of your doors to Bonnie’s apartment. You hear a gasp, and silently curse your bad luck and stupidity. Of course this would happen. 


	8. 8- Capture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is unwanted holding/contact in this chapter. And also still the mouse but not as much.

8- Capture

You consider your options. Die at the hands of a bean, or at the claws of a mouse. Both options sucked, but your decision was made for you when the mouse ran out of the hole as well. Or, was your decision made? Maybe you could get around the mouse and back in the walls, without getting captured. You dart to the side, which the mouse follows, before heading back towards the door. You were almost there, when you felt a pair of hands wrap around you. Fuuuuck. You struggled to get out, and slipped your upper torso out, before you got rearranged to one hand as the other swung down and pressed the mouse into the floor. Would she do that to you? The mouse, and you, were carried over to your previous box, now without a blanket and with tape over the hole you cut out. The mouse is dropped in there, and you get held up to the beans face. 

“Where’d you go, little guy? How’d you even get  _ in  _ there?” She asks, probably not expecting a response. You glare, before going back to struggling. 

“Hey hey hey, chill, you’re alright, you’re okay,” she says, while attempting to pet you. You snap at her, twice when she doesn’t get the message at first. 

“Come on, what have I said about biting, little guy? Stop that.” You snarl in response, and resume attempting to get free. 


	9. 9- Gentle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More unwanted holding/contact and also the mouse. Maybe he should have a character tag.

9- Gentle

Bonnie sighs before leaning over to look at the mouse. 

“What am I going to do with you guys?” She glances back at you, before lowering you down to the box. You pause in your struggle to get free, before starting to frantically try to hold on. She starts gently trying to pry you off, and after a bit more struggling with that she manages to get you in the box. The mouse moves towards you and, and while you never thought you’d do this, you turn towards the human and make grabby hands. Please please please let her not be the densest fuck in the universe. She seems shocked, but does scoop you out, and the mouse stands up sniffing after you. It probably just wants the food you still have in your bag, but still. It was  _ your  _ food, not its! 

“So you can communicate just not... Verbally? Because that was a pretty human gesture.” Bonnie says while lifting you closer again. You wince in regret, before deciding ‘fuck it’ and softly nodding. There’s no way this could backfire. Not at all. 

“Oh, that’s so cool! And that will make this  _ so  _ much easier!” What. Make what easier? You turn your head towards her, as you’re still facing away. 

“Oh, we’re going to be the best of friends!”

Ohhhh shit. 


	10. 10- Manners/Muzzle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More unwanted holding/contact, biting, and comparison of a person to a pet, toy, and then experiment, in that order. 
> 
> Two of the prompts in one chapter? Wowie.

10- Manners/Muzzle

Friends? Probably more like some glorified  _ pet.  _ No, absolutely not, you will not. But… maybe you could be sneaky about this. You probably wouldn’t be able to escape, not easily at least. You’ve already escaped once so she’s probably not going to let you out of her sight… but maybe you could gain her trust, let her convince herself that her precious little pet was too well trained to escape. Then you could go. But what if she would kill you? What if she would get bored of her new pet and decided that toy would be better. And what if she got bored of her toy and decided that new experiment would be more fun. No. You couldn’t- you  _ wouldn’t  _ die. You leaned down and bit her again. 

“Jesus fucking Christ can you stop that? We need to teach you some manners. Or get you a muzzle. A tiny muzzle,” she considers for a moment, “how would I even get that..?” You struggle in her grip a bit more, and she looks back at you. 

“Here, I’m going to put you in here for a little bit while I dump this mouse outside,” she says while opening a drawer on her bedside table. Shit. You try to wiggle free but are placed down and closed in, before you hear her walk out of the room, and then out the front door. You try to push on the drawer, and even try running into it a few times, but all that does is make your side hurt. You walk over to the back of the drawer, sit down, curl up, and silently cry. 


	11. 11- Nail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More unwanted holding/contact, apathy
> 
> A new character’s point of view is introduced :0 I wonder who it may be... *cough cough* it’s Micah *cough cough*

11- Nail

It has been almost two days without Arris showing up by your room, or leaving a note, or any sign of being around. Which is fairly unusual for them. You set out to go to their room in the walls, and see if they’ve left a note there, maybe. They have done that before, when they were leaving for a few days to visit William, or when they thought they would be borrowing for a while. You climb up the nail ladder Arris had made to get up to their room, but see nothing on their little ‘porch’. You knock, before opening the door and peeking in. 

“Hello? Arris?” you call out. No response. You have a bad feeling about what might’ve happened.

You jolt awake to the drawer being opened. You were resting against the back, so didn’t fall over, but it was still. Jarring. 

“Hey little guy, the mouse is gone. How’re you?” you shrug. Fuck her. Fuck her and this drawer. And that mouse. And yourself. And this whole stupid world. You sniffle, before covering your face. Stupid tears, stupid feelings, stupid stupid stupid. 

“Hey hey hey, don’t cry, c’mon, you’re okay.” Bonnie scoops you up, and you just lay there. God you got free, and now you were gonna be some stupid pet. All because you didn’t pay attention to where you were going. Because of that stupid mouse. 

“Hey, I’m gonna go to the store and get… some things. I’m gonna leave you here, but I’ll be back.” She says while laying you back in the middle of the drawer, before closing it. You fall over, and just lay there. This sucks.


	12. 12- Abandon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we almost get free! Except not really.

12- Abandon

You heard the human on the second floor leave her apartment, and after a moment, you rush in.

“Arris? Are you here somewhere?” you call out. You go from room to room, but don’t hear a response until the bedroom. 

“Micah? Is that you?” comes from… somewhere.

“Where are you? Can you come over here?” you ask, while looking around, to see if you’d just missed them. 

“I’m- I’m in the drawer. I’m stuck.” You quickly go over, and throw up your hook to climb up. You try budging the drawer open, and it moves the littlest bit. You put your feet on the now exposed lip and push by extending your body. It slowly slides open, before seeming to unstick and flying open, dropping you in. 

“Fuck, are you okay?” Arris rushes over from where they were sitting. 

“Yeah, fine, I’ll be okay. What about you? How’d you even get in here?” Arris freezes, before looking away. 

“How about we uh, get out of here first? It’s... A long story.” You nod and look up. The top of the drawer is taller than either of you. Your hook is still latched to the outside, and Arris doesn’t appear to have theirs, but you could help each other out. 

“Here, give me a boost up, then I’ll drop the string down to you, okay?” You ask, looking back over to Arris. They nod, and you both get up. 

“Alright, here, step up,” Arris puts out their hands. You get on and they lift up, and you grasp on to the ledge, before pulling yourself up. Right as you hear the front door open. You look down at Arris, and quickly grab the string, and start pulling it up to drape down into the drawer. 

“No, no- Micah, Micah!” Arris shouts, “just go- go quick, before she gets here-”

“I’m not going to abandon you!”

“Just come back, please, she can’t get you too.” You glance at Arris, before letting out a frustrated sigh, and swinging down the side of the night stand on the string. You unhook, and dash into the wall, leaving Arris behind. 

“I’m sorry.” You whisper as you watch the human enter the room with a box, before turning and heading back towards your room. 


End file.
